


The Paraplegic

by bibliolatry



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Cute Ending, M/M, Sweet, paraplegic, paraplegic relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-10
Updated: 2013-09-10
Packaged: 2017-12-26 05:20:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/962072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bibliolatry/pseuds/bibliolatry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An accident left Colton paralyzed from the waist down. Relationships weren't the same, so he focused on work. He'd never tell anyone he fell in love with Andrew, one of the few friends who stuck around after the accident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Paraplegic

Colton sat to the side in his wheelchair, eyes trained on the group of college graduates swimming and horsing around in the pool at his parents Beverly Hills home. It had been three years since the accident that took his legs from him. Many people thought he’d give up, but he carried on; managed to graduate top of his film class. He’d even procured a position with a top film producing company, though he hadn’t told anyone about it yet. 

There were five total; friends over, that is. There was Roger and his fiancé Victoria, Gale and his boyfriend Michael, and then there was Andrew. For as long as he’d known Andrew, he wasn’t sure what his sexuality was. He’d admired Andrew for a long time; not just for his intelligence, though that was well above par, but for his gentle manner, his kindness, and his good looks certainly helped.

“You want to swim?” Colton’s head jerked to the side and he wondered when Andrew had climbed out of the pool and made his way over to him. 

Colton rolled his eyes at Andrew. This wasn’t the first time Andrew had tried to convince him to do something he couldn’t do. He figured after three years of explaining to Andrew exactly why he couldn’t do what everyone else could, he’d finally get it; but Andrew kept insisting that Colton could do anything he put his mind to. 

“I don’t really see how that’s possible, Drew,” Colton replied, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared at Andrew with one brow quirked.

Andrew rolled his eyes as he crossed his own arms over his own chest. “I’ve told you before, Colton. You can do anything you put your mind to. Yes or no, do you want to swim?”

Colton looked back towards the pool where Roger had Victoria on his shoulders and they were dueling Gale, who had Michael on his shoulders. It looked like fun. Colton so badly wanted to join in. He’d even pulled on a pair of swim trunks earlier, using the excuse that he could sun bath so they wouldn’t know how much he wished he could join them. He turned back to Andrew, taking in the patient, yet expectant look on his face. 

“Yeah,” his voice was low, just barely above a whisper. The laughter of their other four friends nearly drowned the word out. 

A moment later Colton could feel the locks on his wheelchair being disengaged. He turned to look behind him. Andrew was pushing him to the edge of the pool. Not close enough to cause concern, but close enough still. He locked the wheels and moved to the front, pulling Colton from the chair and setting him gently on the edge of the pool, his legs dangling into the water. Colton wished he could feel the coolness of the water lapping against his legs. The others didn’t seem to have noticed them yet. Andrew slid himself into the pool beside Colton. He spread Colton’s legs and turned around, wedging his back between them then lifting them to his shoulders. Colton made a noise of disbelief, but helped Andrew as best he could. 

When Colton was situated on Andrews shoulder, he moved away from the edge of the pool and to where their friends stood waiting, their eyes finally trained on the duo. Colton was thankful he’d been so small all his life; he was also thankful Andrew was a gym freak. He wasn’t worried that Andrew would drop him, the guy was too strong for that. 

“Y’all ready to continue?” Andrew asked in a challenging tone.

Michael’s face lit up and Gale dunked himself into the water, helping Michael to climb back onto his shoulders. When Gale resurfaced, he had a triumphant grin on his face.

“You’re goin’ down, Guinness,” Michael chirped.

Colton rolled his eyes at the use of his last name, but couldn’t stop the chuckled that escaped. “Bring it.”

The battle began. Colton and Andrew won against Gale and Michael the first time, then lost to Roger and Victoria, then lost to Gale and Michael the second time. By the time the friends climbed back out of the pool, Colton was breathless from laughter and more happy than he’d been since before the accident. He turned to Andrew with a big smile once he’d been resituated in his chair.

“Thank you,” he said softly, his hand lingering a bit too long on Andrews forearm.

Andrew chuckled, grinning down at him. “I told you.”

Colton rolled his eyes, but the smile didn’t waver. “Yeah, yeah.”

***

Two weeks later

“Hey, Drew,” Colton said as he put the phone to his ear. 

‘Hey, I was wondering,’ there was a pause and Colton could feel his heart picking up speed. Andrew seemed to be nervous. ‘Are you busy tonight?’

“No,” Colton said as he looked over his schedule. He’d been in his office all day working on locations for a new film the company was starting in a few weeks time. He could take the evening off, he’d make time for Andrew. “What’s up?”

‘I was wondering.’

“So you’ve said,” Colton chuckled, his heart fluttering as Andrew laughed along.

‘Smart-ass. Would you like to, maybe… Umm… would you,’ Colton was getting nervous now. Andrew never stuttered or wavered on what he wanted to say. ‘Fuck it. Do you want to have dinner with me?’

Colton froze. Had Andrew just asked him out?

‘I mean, if you don’t, if you have plans or something, then that’s ok. I understand. This was a bad idea…’

“Shut up, Drew. You just caught me off guard. Umm… Yeah, I think I’d like that.”

There was a sigh from the other end and Colton could feel the smile taking over his face. He felt giddy, over-excited even. ‘That’s great. I’ll pick you up around five?’

Colton looked at the clock, it was two-forty-five. “Yeah, I’ll see you then.”

They bid their goodbyes and hung up. Colton had trouble focusing on work for the next forty minutes and eventually gave up. He rolled himself from the home office and towards his bedroom. In front of the closet, he sat motionless, simply staring at the clothes piled in front of him. 

He grabbed his cell phone and called Michael.

“Help, I have a date with Drew.”

***

“So, how was your day?” Andrew asked as the hostess removed one of the chairs so Colton could pull his wheelchair up to the table.

“It was a work day, what more can I say?”

Andrew chuckled and Colton couldn’t help but smile along. He loved seeing Andrew smile, loved hearing him laugh. Everything about Andrew made his day. The man was all around amazing. In all of his twenty-four years of life, Colton had never met anyone like the twenty-seven year old self-made business owner.

“And yours?” Colton asked as Andrew sat across from him. 

A waitress appeared to take their drink orders and drop off their menus. Before she left, she pulled a snow white candle from her apron and placed it in the candle holder on the table. She lit it and smiled at the two men. Colton looked nervously at Andrew, but Andrew just grinned at the girl.

“It was a bit dull, actually. That new manager I hired was well worth the money. Saves me a lot of work. She’d amazing.”

Colton nodded, trying to ignore the bolt of jealousy that shot through him as Andrew continued to praised this mystery woman. He smiled as Andrew babbled on and on about the day he’d had. Colton could listen to Andrew talk for hours.

“So, I’m sure you’re curious as to what brought this on,” Andrew started and Colton shot him a sheepish grin as he nodded in agreement. Andrew chuckled, bringing a hand up and placing it gently on top of Colton’s. He gave Colton’s hand a little squeeze before he continued. “I wanted to make sure I was stable before I started something that could be ruined by my job. I know all of you have wondered over the years about my orientation. I’m gay, Colton. I know that doesn’t bother you because you wouldn’t have been Michael’s best man last weekend if it did,” Colton chuckled at that. “But, as I finally got my life in order, I realized I was missing one very important thing. I need someone to share it with. Since I’ve met you I’ve had my eye on you, Colton. I’ve always found you very attractive,” he smiled at Colton’s blush, “and I was wondering if you’d like to do this more often, with me, on a more permanent basis.”

Colton gave Andrew a wide grin, his head already nodding as he mumbled a quick ‘hell yeah’ that had Andrew laughing loudly. Colton flushed, but he couldn’t hide his happiness. Suddenly his face dropped and Andrew stopped laughing.

“What’s wrong?” Andrew asked, his worry seeping into his voice.

Colton stared at Andrew in disbelief. How could he not see? “I’m paraplegic, Andrew.”

“Yes, and?”

“There couldn’t be any sex. Eventually you’d get tired of it and want to leave. I’ve liked you for too long to let that happen; hell we’ve been friends for too long to allow something like that to come in between us. I don’t know if this is such a good idea.”

Andrew just grinned. “That’s not an issue, Colton. I’m homo-asexual.”

Colton stared at Andrew with a blank expression. “You’re what?”

“Homo-asexual. I prefer men, but I’m asexual. I don’t do sex, Colton. It’s not my area.”

“Oh,” Colton stared at Andrew for a moment. “Then, is that the only reason? You don’t have to worry about that with me, so that makes me a good choice for a partner.”

“Oh hell, no that’s not what I meant at all, Colton. We’ve known each other for a while now, right?”

“Five years, since I started school and started going to that gym.”

Andrew nodded, “Exactly. In all that time have you ever known me to do something so cold hearted?” Colton shook his head. “Then what makes you think I’d do something like that to you? I’ve seriously grown to care for you deeply over the years, Col. You have no idea how much you’ve grown to mean to me. I want to be with you because of you, not because you can’t have sex and that would make it easy. I…” he trailed off, a light blush coloring his features.

“You what, Drew?”

“I love you,” Andrew stared down at the now empty plate in front of him, glancing up at Colton from under his lashes. 

Colton had never seen Andrew look as good as he did in that moment. The candlelight flittering across his face made his eyes sparkle, the light smile ghosting across his lips had Colton’s stomach flipping and the gentle circles Andrew’s thumb was drawing on the back of Colton’s hand sent tingles up his arm and down his spine. He smiled at Andrew.

“I love you, too, Andrew. I have for a good while now.”


End file.
